From a unique creative collaboration between Filament theatre and over 600 children, this heart-warming new show, Rufus Longbottom and The Space Rabbit is the story of a friendship between an elderly care home resident and a rabbit from space.
Performer and sound-artist Lula Mebrahtu will be using ‘Mi.Mu’ gloves to manipulate the live, multi-part harmony singing with just the wave of her hands, giving the Rabbit a truly magical and other worldly dimension. Rufus Longbottom and the Space Rabbit combines physical theatre, music and on-stage sound design with storytelling and puppetry in a magical adventure of hope and belonging.
We caught up with Osnat Schmool and Sabina Netherclift to find out more.
You’re touring your show Rufus Longbottom and the Space Rabbit at the moment, what can you tell us about it?
Osnat: It’s a fantastic adventure about an old wheelchair using gentleman who finds a giant alien rabbit in the back garden of his residential care home and takes on the mission to go with her (around the globe) looking for her lost family.
The show is developed from a literacy and music project we ran in Derbyshire, Oxfordshire and East London and all the characters and some of the storylines are the creations of KS2 children that were part of that project. It’s a magical show for kids of any age mixing storytelling with a cappella songs and digital live sound design
And what are your roles within the company, and what is the company ethos?
Sabina: I direct all our work which might mean developing movement or story ideas to complement music that Osnat has written or shaping a movement idea which Osnat will then write music for as we develop the work. It’s always a very close collaboration. On this show I wove a script and Osnat developed the score and lyrics from the children’s ideas and stories and these were further developed with the actors who have formed the company for this show.
Our company ethos is to make inclusive work which combines beautiful vocal music (our shows are nearly always a cappella) with a physical and visual approach to performance to create shows that hopefully stay with the audience. There is always a large participation element to everything we do – whether that’s in the creative stages of a piece of work (such as this show) or in the performance (‘Momo’ which included school choirs and ‘Earth Makes No Sound’ which involves a number of different community choirs alongside a Filament company)
Osnat: I compose music/lyrics & am musical director. We have a really close collaborative relationship with each other and with the cast – much of what we create started through improvisation and devising in R&D and rehearsals. It’s a very close-knit team based on hard work and a lot of fun!
Making the show was quite an unusual process; why did you decide to make the show like this, and what did it entail?
Osnat: Yes. We wanted to find out how else we could involve people in our work and so we decided to start right at the beginning with their ideas. Working with our Co-producer, Stratford Circus and our partner venues, Pegasus & Derby Theatres we connected with schools near the venues the final work would be presented at.
We knew we wanted to work with children in Key Stage 2 and at that age when you are telling stories, literally anything can happen – children are not bound by convention. During our initial story telling workshops (where we worked with the children on creating characters from a physical point of view and then on how to write a song that might introduce them) we also looked at how props such as umbrellas and saucepan lids, baskets and scarves could become other things and open up different worlds.
After that we asked the children to send us their character and story ideas. These were wonderful – often involving the most incredible scenarios for example a giant rabbit driving a car and running over a baker. All the characters are the children’s invention – there were a lot of older people invented (anything from 64 – 9000) as well as a couple of magicians who could travel through time and space, pirates were popular and also animals. We chose those we thought would work well together but still reflect the children’s ideas about them – Dan (one of the old people) is very angry, Ann was definitely an explorer despite her age.
During an early stage of development, we took a short extract back to the children we had originally worked with to ask them for input on what they enjoyed and what they wanted more of. We also worked with a Mi.Mu glove artist, Lula Mebrahtu, who plays the space rabbit and and that added another layer to the show, as her gloves are able to manipulate sound live on stage.
What were some of the most memorable moments of making the show with school children?
Osnat: I really remember clearly the moment that a child (in an Oxford Primary School) created the Space Rabbit and her journey. I was so touched by the idea and that children see the truth of those in need – the message was clear, someone needs help and you give it to them.
Sabina: I have to say the workshops were all so enjoyable because our participants are so creative! The moment I start demonstrating with a ladel that in fact it could be an eye patch or a walking stick, they are away and they fizz with energy and before you know it they are up and creating a play! So the memorable moments really are the moments when you see the spark of an idea within the children and then see them work together to create a full story.
What drew you to working with Mi.Mu gloves in live performance, and how do you incorporate/use them?
Osnat: We’d worked with glover/sound artist Lula Mebrahtu before, as an actress and singer, but when we started R&D Lula had her gloves and I’d wanted to have a play at what would happen if we used looping software with the piece – but as the ideas grew and Space Rabbit became clearer it was really obvious that these were integral to her “alien” nature and what they could deliver would clearly separate her from inhabitants of Earth.
Sabina: Space Rabbit is able to record Rufus’s voice when she first meets him and then manipulate that sound – it’s her way of learning language and she uses her gloves throughout to learn and pick up sounds – which becomes useful when she needs to fight for her life at the end of the show – which she does not through physical means but through sound.
What’s next for Filament theatre?
Osnat: Next we’re remounting our physical/choral piece called Earth Makes No Sound for Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival at The Place Theatre on August 18th, with Filament Chorus and The Roundhouse Choir. We first performed it at QEH in 2015 as part of chorus fest and we loved being able to work with a much larger group of performers than we can usually get our hands on! The piece is about the planet and the elements and the power of nature versus what humans can or can’t do to control it. It’s much more movement based and is all sung (no spoken words at all). We can’t wait to get 30-40 singers together to fill the space – it’s really powerful and moving.
Rufus Longbottom and The Space Rabbit is on tour until 9th June 2018.
